I think this convo is straying from the original discussion…
Yeah it did. No matter.
I submit that there is a significant distinction between TikTok doomscrolling brainrot and interrupting a message board thread to research an odd unknown and then spelunking a rabbit hole.
The former is an endless series of rolling from one false promise of interest until a threshold of boredom is reached, then on to another, and on and on. Like an infant who’s unable to latch onto any nipple, but is supplied with a whirlwind assembly line of breast, each slathered in Vaseline.
The former has the advantage of being self-directed study, and therefore emblematic of the exercise of free will.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet, when writer’s-blocked, would file “things I discovered while looking up other things.” (Whenever Mike Royko became blocked, he’d have a beer with Slats Grobnik). These columns were often better than the standard think-pieces. Too often, a reader only is offered three options: something they already knew, something they already believed in, or raw seeds that may sprout into something neither the author intended nor the reader expected.
French Writers:
One flew East, One flew West, One flew ver the Cuckoo’s Nest
Answer: Astolphe-Louis-Léonor, Marquis de Custine, , Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville, and Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade.
I’m somewhat confident that the first of those three will accumulate the most curiosity hits.
“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.” ― Bertrand Russell
“The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.” — Karl Marx
Your own life experience may prove the first, the Venice wedding of Jeff Bezos the second. But I propose that we propagate the flux of useless ideas as a counter to the false enrichment of useless goods (hawked on TikTok) as a means of creating a race of useful people living meaningful lives. Bravely highlighting unknown words and French names and sweeping valiant fingers over to the “look up” option.
Didn’t Trump nerf them recently? Ask Texans.
My goodness, how I miss those two!
I bet you meant “latter” there.
There is no evidence that the NWS cuts did anything to harm the forecasting or response in Texas from Post-Barry flooding. Too little too soon.
For sure the NWS cuts will bring widespread harm all across the country soon enough. It was a profoundly ignorant bit of royalist toddler vandalism that itself alone is grounds for immediate removal from office as manifestly unfit.
See here for some highly informed commentary on the topic of Texas flooding and NWS cuts:
and
Well, consider yourself lucky it hasn’t turned into a cookbook.
But then it can be used to serve man.
The country fried gambler recipe on page 73 is especially tasty.
The mix of free cocktails, cigarette smoke, and suck cost fallacies helps the meat make its own gravy, which has a complex, peppery flavor profile.
When Mike Royko was at the Sun-Times, he was practically the only reason I read the paper. Irv Kupcinet was a bonus.
I just had a fantasy that Royko was still alive and writing columns about Trump.
Further reading from a different source on NWS vs. Texas flooding.
My first reaction to “king of the hill”? That was a game we used to play at recess when I was in grade school. Oh, King of the Hill, a TV show. I’ve heard of it, knew it was a cartoon, but going by the YouTube link up yonder it’s not the one I would have guessed. (What’s the one with the redhead, her large husband, and a dog?) No idea who any of the characters are, but I would guess that the main character’s name is King.
Like LSLGuy, I’ve heard of Skeletor, but I can come up with a mental image of him. Okay, I got the skull in a hood right, but not the body or the colours. Punky Brewster? Main character in a … '80s? … TV show about a girl (girl, not woman or teen) which I’ve never watched, and I doubt I could pick her out in a lineup.
Some sort of politician?
I’d rather have a CARE package.
Playing Civilization, two deployments to the Mediterranean, getting married…
I’m over 70, and I recognise it.
Wildly popular amongst people who watch TV, that is.
I used to check NWS, AccuWeather, and the Weather Channel. NWS was usually the most accurate, so now I just check them. (Long, long ago, when I lived in the Chicago area, John
Coleman was the best!)
That would be Family Guy.
It’s an understandable confusion. Both aired on Fox originally, and they premiered only a couple of years apart. They are both animated shows about families. Very different in tone and style, though. Family Guy is a raunchy, fantastical show kind of in the South Park vein, which at times pushes boundaries as far as what is acceptable on TV. King of the Hill is far more realistic and tame, with more subtle humor.
Family Guy is the brainchild of Seth MacFarlane, also known for the Ted movies and the Star Trek homage show The Orville. He also created a similar animated show American Dad, and a short-lived spin-off of Family Guy called The Cleveland Show.
King of the Hill was created by Mike Judge, most famous for the animated show Beavis and Butthead, but he also created the films Office Space and Idiocracy.
I kinda just look out the window.
Cause around here you wait awhile it’ll be different.
No weather man, channel or app can keep me posted well enough.
I have a weather thermometer on the wall of the garage and it’s never right.
My Daddy would drive to town to read the temp on the bank sign. Eh, he gotta kick outta it.
I think I finally figured out what unsettles me about questions along the lines of “What does that easily-searchable term mean?”
Personally, I get a very positive feeling from satisfying my curiosity and I am willing to go to fairly great lengths to do so. So I have a hard time relating to people who reason along the lines of “I’m curious what this word means, but I would prefer to go to my grave not knowing the meaning rather than type it into a search bar.”
A frequent issue is the term or acronym may refer to 5 or 10 things. Some posters are clueful / knowledgeable to figure out which. Others aren’t.
I’m not going to lie about it: In the 90s I was watching more jeans commercials than I should have.
I chalked it up to < cough > < cough > shopping…
Acronym finder has 71 definitions for MMT, with Modern Monetary Theory ranked as 17. I don’t get much of a charge by figuring out which definition fits MMT, any more than I would for HEPP (9 definitions, when I had High Energy Particle Physics in mind) or AGW (25 definitions with Anthropogenic Global Warming ranked 2).
Acronym Finder is a helpful website. Here’s the link: